The Boys Next Door
by Chriss-Meister
Summary: Jenny is the new girl in town. Her mission is to protect her new hometown, but all she wants is to settle down and have a home like a normal kid. She just hopes that they don't find out about her powers or her chances to have a normal life are all but gone. And no one said it was easy to hide your powers and your feelings from the cutie next door!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Yeah, so this is my first submission on this website. A friend recommended to me to make an account or something so I decided to sign up. It seemed kind of girly, but after reading through a lot of people's stories, I see they have the same writing dedication as I do. So here I go. Thanks a ton to any who, "R&R" as I've seen people write in their author notes. I'm big on constructive criticism since I am an artist too, so I can take anything you got to dish. Insert-smiley-face-here.

**The Boys Next Door**

CRASH!

Brad looked up from his magazine at the sudden loud sound. Looking around from his seat in the lawn chair, all he saw was a car passing by at the speed of dirt and some birds lazing around in a tree. The same old boring Tremerton.

He was about to go back to skimming through the pages when he saw a boy with a cap walking towards the front door to his house, unsuccessfully hiding a bat behind his back.

The boy continued to walk until he passed by Brad's chair. Brad grabbed onto his head. He stopped walking and gulped.

"Tuck," said Brad in a condescending tone.

"It was an accident, I swear!" pleaded his little brother, not bothering to hide the bat anymore.

"Brad gave him an incredulous look. "What did you do?" he asked, getting up and looking down at him.

He could see Tuck fidgeting in his shoes. "Well I was playing with my ball, _by myself_, I might add, since SOMEONE didn't wanna play with me and would rather sit around all day reading a dumb magazine."

"Get on with it Tuck," Brad said with an eyeroll.

"Right. So I was playing ball and I hit it really hard with my bat so it would hit the tree, but I'm not the best aimer in the world, so…" Tuck looked over the hedge that separated different family's houses.

"Wait. You mean to tell me you hit a ball into Wakeman's house?!" Brad exclaimed, following Tuck's gaze.

"Well like I said. It was an accident. So if you don't mind." With that, Tuck proceeded to walk into the safety of their house.

"Huh-uh. No way, buddy. You go over there, get the ball back, and apologize." Brad took Tuck's head once again and turned him around.

"What?! But that's Wakeman's house! You know the rumors about that crazy old lady!" Tuck shook with terror on his face.

Brad did know of the rumors. Not that he believed them. Well, most of them anyway. "Should'a thought of that before you decided to play ball in the front lawn."

"But-"

"NOW, Tucker Cornelius Carbunkle," Brad stated, pointing towards the Wakeman house. He started to push him up the walkway.

"Okay, okay, I'm going," Tuck squeaked. Reluctantly, he made his way towards his neighbor's house while Brad went back to his lounge.

Jenny sat on the staircase and observed as the little boy with black spiky hair wearing a red shirt with a single black stripe, made his way through the foyer of her house. His movements were jerky and he kept glancing behind him for some reason. Jenny just casually sat on the third step from the bottom, elbows on her knees, resting her chin in her hands. After an initial analysis, she concluded the boy was not a threat. It was pretty obvious he was only here to get back the baseball that flew through the front door window a few minutes ago.

Seeing as how the boy looked about ready to pee himself, she decided to help him out. She got up and skipped down the few steps to pick up the ball. She held it out, and watched as her forearm down became illuminated in the daytime sun pouring through the window, leaving only that small patch lighted in the otherwise dark house.

The boy turned his head toward her, and she swears she saw his eyes bulge out of his head before he screamed and ran out of the house. Jenny could only stare in wonder at the boy's reaction and wonder what had made him so frightened. I mean, he couldn't even see what she could do yet.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Enjoy my friends~

**The Boys Next Door**

"XJ9!" yelled Ms. Wakeman as she stormed into her daughter's room.

Jenny had purposely been in her closet at the time.

"What have I told you about going outside?! It's dangerous to be interacting with the locals when you are in such a fragile state at the moment. It is important that you stay hidden until you are better integrated with this new environment!"

Jenny made a talking mouth with her hands, mocking her mother's incessant rambles.

The door to the closet suddenly flew open and Jenny watched as her mother stood in the doorway, arms crossed, foot tapping, evil glare plastered on her face.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Jenny questioned, not looking her mother in the face.

"That is a privilege you have yet to earn, young lady," Mrs. Wakeman shot back.

Jenny only groaned and stood to exit the closet.

To her retreating figure, her mother asked "What do you think you were doing, XJ9? You could have-"

"Jenny."

"What?" her mother blubbered, taken aback by the interruption.

"Jenny, call me Jenny! I _told_ you to call me that when I'm not on duty, remember?" Jenny exclaimed, turning back to her mother.

"Why, XJ9-" her mother started, surprised.

Jenny moaned.

"Jennifer." Her mother corrected herself. "Do you realize the danger you put yourself in?" she continued.

"Oh yeah. I was in real danger from a 7-year-old kid from Earth, mom," Jenny said sarcastically.

"That is not what I meant, and you know it. Just please stay in here until things are settled, okay dear?" With that, Mrs. Wakeman rested her hand on Jenny's cheek until her daughter muttered a 'yes, mother', then quickly proceeded out of her room.

Jenny flopped down on her bed and groaned at the ceiling. _How does she expect me to 'settle in' if she won't even let me outside?_ She flopped over and buried her face into her pillow.

"You're not actually going up there, are you?" Tuck questioned his brother.

"Of course I am. I wanna see this so called 'monster' you described," Brad said, pulling up the sleeves of his white collar shirt.

"But, but, what if you get hurt? Or viciously eaten? Or killed violently?" Tuck cried.

However, Brad had already started climbing the huge tree next to the Wakeman house that led up to what appeared to be a balcony.

"Then I guess Carbunkle will still have one son," Brad shot back half-heartedly.

Tuck just shrieked and stared as he continued his way up the tree.

Once at the top, Brad made his way across a sturdy branch and hopped onto the ledge. (Apparently, it wasn't a balcony) There were large windows that showed the inside of a room.

From what he could see, the floor was littered with mags, clothes and CD's. The walls were plastered with in-style bands and superstars. Nearer to the window against the adjacent wall was a queen sized bed with a fluffy lavender comforter and a girl lying on top.

Brad cupped his hands against the window to get a better look. Upon pressing his weight against it, the window flipped open and Brad tumbled into the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** The chapter you've all been asking for. Please enjoy~ Oh yes. Looking back, I see that I accidentally switched to speaking in first person, rather than third in chapter two. I'm so sorry about that, I'm going to fix it. I've decided to note the POV's in this chapter, since someone mentioned in a review that it was confusing to differentiate at times (mostly because of my mistake. I apologize once again.) Please let me know if it helps, or if it doesn't. Much obliged~

**The Boys Next Door**

**Jenny's POV**

With a start, Jenny hopped off her bed and turned toward the window where she had heard a little yelp. Clenched fist and ready to attack, she ran toward the intruder, but stopped abruptly as he began to sit up.

He rubbed his head, no mistakenly what he had fallen on, and looked up to see her.

Jenny stared at him. Despite his disheveled state and startled expression, he still appeared surprisingly cute to her.

"Oh wow. Sorry about that," he said standing up and scratching his head. "Didn't mean to, barge in like that."

Jenny shook her head from side to side, causing her pigtails to swoosh around her head. "No, it's fine. You just surprised me." Him falling into her room was the least of her problems.

"Yeah, sorry," he apologized again. He seemed a bit flustered. _So cute!_ Jenny could feel a small prickle in her chest. "My name's Brad," he said before she could ascertain as to where that pain had come from.

"I'm Jenny," she responded. She was aware of the Earth custom to say one's name after someone introduces themselves. Or was it 'nice to meet you'? "Nice to meet you," she said after a pause. _Better late than never, Jenny._

"Same here," he said coolly. He was trying to get back on his feet (metaphorically since he already had gotten up from the floor). "Sooo, how old are you?"

Jenny was surprised by the question. She was about to say her true age before she caught herself. "Oh, uh, six…teen."

"Oh, same as me then!" Brad was finally relaxing into the conversation. "How come I've never seen you around before? You don't seem the couch-potato type."

"Trust me, I'm not. My mom never lets me go outside. She's scared for my 'safety'," Jenny said with a sigh and air quotes. "I would like nothing more than to go out but I…" Jenny tried looking for a reasonable, non-crazy sounding explanation.

"So why don't you?" Brad asked, with an upturned eyebrow. The sight made Jenny's heart beat faster. _There's that pain again. How can someone look so cool while doing that?_ Preoccupied with her thoughts, she had forgotten what Brad just said.

"What?"

"Why don't you come out and hang with me?" he said with a smile. His whole face was radiating with how dandy he though this idea was.

"You want to hang out? With me?" she exclaimed, pointing to herself. _Duh, Jenny, who else is here?_ She blushed at his invitation. "I would love to! But my mom…"

"Forget your mom. Mrs. Wakeman is a wet blanket. Oh, sorry! No offense," he apologized, realizing he was talking about her mother.

Jenny merely waved him off. "None taken. You're right anyway," she said absently, looking towards her bedroom door. As if by will, a sound started on the other side. _Oh no! If mom finds Brad in here, she'll flip!_ So Jenny did what any sensible teenage girl would do when caught with a teenage boy in their room.

She shoved him out the window.

"XJ9, what was that noise?" came Mrs. Wakeman's muffled voice from Jenny's closed door.

"Nothing, mom! Just playing some music!" Jenny lied. She didn't even bother to correct her mother's use of her name.

"Really, kids these days," Mrs. Wakeman muttered. "Listening to 'music' that just sounds like people screaming. Why, I remember back in my day-" she continued until Jenny could no longer hear her voice from the other side of the door.

Jenny let out a huge breath and slumped against the door. _That was close._

"Uh…Jenny?" said a voice from the distance.

_Oh my gosh, Brad!_ Jenny nearly forgot about him! She sprinted to the window to see Brad dangling from the ledge. "Brad!"

"A hand…might be nice," he joked. Jenny was about to give him one before his grip slipped and he went plunging to his doom.

She hesitated a moment until she heard the familiar screech coming from the back lawn. _Well, I can't get in much more trouble._ She hopped out of her window after Brad.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Hey guys~ So sorry about the late update, but, better late than never, right?

Tuck: Well finally. Some of us thought you'd NEVER update!

Me: Shut it, punk.

Tuck: Hey!

Brad: Tuck, don't piss off the author. She can alter your part in all this.

Me: …Light bulb (Despicable Me reference)

Tuck: Why are you smiling like that? And what are you typing so fast?! NOOOOOO!

Jenny: Ignore the author's babbles with us and go ahead to read the story~

Me: What she said.

**The Boys Next Door**

**Brad's POV**

_You know, I probably should'a thought of a backup plan about coming back down _before _I climbed up to Jenny's window._ He thought this in the few seconds it took to plummet to the floor that was three stories down. He could hear Tuck's scream (_I could recognize that scream in a crowd_) and thought it best if he didn't see what happened. SO he closed his eyes shut and listed his regrets in his head.

Except…he didn't feel anything. As in, he didn't feel any pain. What he did feel was a large gust of wind just before he hit the ground. Then just the luscious grass gently under his rump. He peeked one eye open to see if he was still on Earth. Tuck's continuously shrieks and frantic cries proved that he was, indeed, alive on Earth.

He opens up both his eyes now and checks for damage. _No broken bones, no twisted ankle, banged up knee, sore neck, aching tailbone…but this headache seems to be getting worse._

"Tuck!" Brad yelled at his little brother, who had been screaming non-stop. "I'm fine, jeez. You don't have to let the whole town hear your wimpy screams."

Tuck stopped screaming and looked up at his brother angrily. "My screams are not wimpy! And I'll have you know-"

"Yeah, yeah," Brad interrupted. He really didn't want to hear Tuck's rant. It could go on for days. He was more worried about Jenny. He could have sworn he saw her two blue pigtails jump out the window too. He looked around frantically for her.

"OH MY GOD," Tuck started.

"Shut up, Tuck." Brad was tired of hearing him scream.

Too bad he was about to hear a whole lot more. "It's…the…MONSTEEEEER!" Tuck screeched into the mid day. He sprinted behind his brothers legs and pointed to the trunk of the tree Brad had just climbed not so long ago.

Brad looked over and saw the familiar pig tails peeking from behind the large trunk. He chuckled. "That you, Jen?" he called out.

"Brad," Tuck half whispered half-shouted. "What are you doing?!"

"Calm down, Tuck. She's no monster. She's-"

Brad abruptly stopped and Tuck looked up to see what had happened. All he saw was Brad slightly agape, staring fixedly at the tree. Or rather, the girl who had stepped out from behind the tree.

Now, completely bathed in sun, Jenny seemed to glow. She had pale white skin that shimmered in the sunlight. Her cropped blue tank and matching miniskirt showed off her curves (as well as some skin.) And those eyes…those eyes were big and glassy cerulean and seemed to hold the entire world. They stood out on her almond-shaped face that was encased with her sparkly blue hair that was pulled up into two pigtails.

_Whoa._ He was at a loss for words at the moment. Until he saw Tuck run over to her and start pounding on her leg and the moment was ruined.

"You…you monster! What did you do to my brother?!" Tuck continued to relentlessly throw his fist into Jenny's leg. Jenny just stood there looking down at him. He only came up to her waist.

"Tuck! STOP! Jenny didn't do anything to me," I said as I ran over and tugged him away from Jenny. "AND SHE'S NOT A MONSTER," I added for good measure.

"But, but, I saw her-"

"ENOUGH TUCK."

Tuck stopped protesting and just pouted at his brother. Brad just rolled his eyes. Coming back to his senses, (_this girl seems to be able to constantly throw me off my game_) he turned to Jenny.

"Sorry Jen. My brother's got the wildest imagination."

"No problem." Jenny waved her hands in front of her and smiled. Every time she moved her pigtails would shake or bounce. Brad couldn't get enough of that.

"So I guess this is a yes?"

"What?" Jenny's face popped up. Bounce-bounce.

"Well, you climbed down that tree after me. So I guess you wanna hang out after-all!" Brad cheered.

"What?! I mean, yeah, I guess I do," Jenny looked down and squirmed her boots in the grass. If she didn't stop she was going to give Brad heart palpitations from cuteness overload.

"Great! Let me just go grab my bag. Meet you on the sidewalk in five?" Brad said, walking backwards.

"Uh, yeah. Sounds great!" Jenny produced a smile that could light up a room.

"Great. See you in a bit. Meet back in five," _wait, had he already said that?_ "Come on, Tuck, time for you to go home." Not waiting for his little bro, he turned around and jogged into the Carbunkle yard.

**Tuck's POV**

Instead of following his brother immediately, he stood there, glaring at the 'girl' standing in front of him.

_I won't be fooled. I know what I saw. She jumped out that window after Brad and somehow landed perfectly on the ground? FROM THREE STORIES UP? And where had that mysterious gust come from? All this is just not adding up and I _know_ it has something to do with this monster chick_. Tuck narrowed his eyes at her and she put on a confused expression. _Act innocent all you want. I won't fall for it. Just because Brad's got goo-goo eyes for you doesn't mean I do. And I'll protect my brother if it's the last thing I do!_


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: ** Hello~ Lately I've been really immersed in a lot of the stories on fanfiction that I forgot about my own. Also I was doing something I hate. I saw I hadn't received many reviews from my last update so I assumed no one was reading it anymore so I stopped writing. Forgive my foolishness. I personally hate when people do that. Just because someone didn't review or whatever, doesn't mean there isn't someone out there reading and enjoying the story. And who knows? Someone new will most likely stumble upon it. So excuse my momentary…retardedness (yup, going to go with that word) and enjoy the story whether you read, review, favorite, follow or not.

**The Boys Next Door**

**Jenny's POV**

_What am I going to do? What am I going to do?_ Jenny stared off as Tuck scuttled after Brad's retreating figure. _What am I…what am I going to wear?_ Jenny was more preoccupied with her date-_ It's not a date! We're just hanging out!_ Ahem, with her 'outing' with Brad to even worry an ounce about Tuck's suspicion about what she was. She was surprised the little dude had even caught on to her dirty little secret.

Without giving it another thought, Jenny glanced around then flew up to her room window, using the huge tree as cover. She pushed on the glass and landed safely inside. At the exact moment her feet made contact with the ground, someone started banging on her door.

"XJ9, are you in there?" her mother asked, suspicion all in her voice.

With lightning speed, Jenny flew to her shelf, picked up a ton of CD's and tossed them on the floor around her bean bag chair. She snatched her IPod touch and headphones from her bedside table and flounced into the bean bag from the other side of the room.

Mrs. Wakeman chose that moment to open the door. She looked at her daughter who was semmingly, as she had said before, listening to music.

"Jennifer, what are you up to?" she asked from the door.

Jenny had a bored look on her face. "Just listening to some tunes." _Oh please fall for it!_

Her mother cleared her throat. "Well, there's a crisis in the park off of midtown that you really should be getting to. Didn't you hear the-"

"Yes, I heard the random danger alarm go off. It's probably just some animals having a brawl in the woods-" Suddenly, Jenny had a brilliant idea. "-that I should definitely go check out. I mean, you never know what it could really be. Danger comes in all shapes and forms." Jenny stood up and pulled her ear buds out.

"Well, that is true. But why are you so anxious? You are usually so reluctant to go out on a mission." Mrs. Wakeman crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

"I just thought, 'why be difficult if I could just zip down there, take care of the problem and zip right back home'? Unless there really is danger and it takes a little longer than expected." She was trying to sound aloof.

Mrs. Wakeman just stared at her. _She's not falling for it she's not falling for it she's not-_

"Better 'zip' to it then," her mother said with a smile. She turned back to return to whatever she was doing, closing the door behind her.

_Yes!_ Jenny zipped (gotta stop using that word now that mom used it) to her closet and rummaged through her clothes. Most of them were homemade by her mother to make them resistant to physical activity (like that time I was on planet Mira and those Mirians spat on her pants. If her mom hadn't made them acid-retardant, she would have been in bed for a week healing from the acidic wound. At least that's better than a human would heal, or rather, not heal. She was lucky to be what she was at those times, but sometimes, she just wanted to be like everyone else here. Which is why she had a separate compartment for her regular 100% human manufactured clothing. I mean, her mom did make some pretty cool clothes sometimes, but most of them turned out really retro.

She grabbed a pair of her MM (mother-made) Bermuda shorts and high-top heat-resistant sneakers. She got a sleeveless dark blue shirt with sequined silver stars and a thin dark gray vest from her HM (human-made) section. Putting on few accessories (they get in the way of crime fighting and stuff) she put her hair down, combed and brushed through it, and redid the pigtails. Satisfied with her look, she went to slightly open her door. "Mom! I'm going now be back when I can don't wait up BYE!" she yelled through the creak. With that, she slammed the door shut and ran to exit through her window. She didn't want her mom to see what she was wearing. She would start asking questions.

Careful not to be seen (how long had it been since Brad had left?) she went to the tree and slowly flew down, making it seem like she climbed down to whoever was looking. Once at the bottom she dusted herself off and made her way to the sidewalk.

**Brad's POV**

He stood on the sidewalk directly between his house and Jenny's. He had been waiting for 7 minutes.

"Weeell, looks like she's not coming, might as well go on ahead then," Tuck commented to him.

"Tuck, she's only a few minutes late," Brad pointed out. He looked down at his brother's pouting face. "And who invited you along?"

"I did," Tuck said proudly, pointing to himself. "Who else is going to protect you from the clutches of that, that-"

Tuck's trembling voice was cut off by a cough. Both the boys looked up to see who it was.

Once again, Brad was speechless.

He had assumed she was taking a while because she was a girl and they took forever to get ready (aka, my mom). But boy was he glad he waited the extra time. She looked stunning. So casual yet still so undoubtedly beautiful. _Get it together Brad! You can't keep getting dumbstruck over this one girl! You're just hanging out as friends, nothing more. She looks like she could use a friend._ With that, Brad swore he would only look at Jenny the way a friend would.

"Sorry I took so long," Jenny said. She put her hand up to her face where those pouty lips were. They glistened in the sun with the gloss she probably put on. "You ready to go?" The thin silver bangles she had on her wrists jingled as she moved her arms. Her hair was still doing that bouncy thing, now accompanied with the bracelets, made it seem like bells in a pool of blue.

Oh yeah. This was going to be hard.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Hi. Sorry for the late update. And looking back on my story, I seem to have a few spelling errors, and even an accidental switch to 1 POV. Sorry about that, hope it didn't confuse anyone, I'll make sure to spell check _twice_ from now on. And the chapters _are_ short (I never noticed that) so I shall heed a reviewers advice, and just update more. Fair enough? With that, I give you le next chapter~

**The Boys Next Door**

**Jenny's POV**

Jenny couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was like, a whole new world to her; one she never dreamed she would ever be able to be a part of.

She was at the mall.

"You alright, Jen? You look so amazed right now," Brad chuckled.

She was at the mall with a friend.

"Well, I've never been to the mall until today. This is my first time," Jenny admitted shyly. Better to tell the truth than to let a lie get out of control.

"What?! This is your first?" Brad asked incredulously. But then his face broke out into a smile. "Well, I'm glad that I'm here to share in your experience." He smiled at her walking next to him. She turned forward with a slight blush and a small smile.

Correction: She was at the mall with a TOTALLY HOT…friend.

"Hey look! That new game was released today! Can we go check it out, pleeease? Can we, can we, can we?"

She was at the mall with a total hottie…and his little brother.

"Tuck," Brad said, sounding exasperated. "You may have invited yourself along, but you can't dictate where we go. This was supposed to be me and Jenny, not me, Jenny and you. You're not going to inconvenience her with your childish wants."

"They are not childish. Everyone loves video games!" Tuck cried, trying to reason with his brother.

Brad just shook his head while walking past the store. But Jenny stopped him. "I don't really mind." Brad and Tuck's head swiveled toward her. "It seems interesting; I would like to check it out."

"See! _She_ doesn't mind," Tuck cheered. He ran back into the store.

"Really? I didn't know you were you interested in games," Brad commented.

"Yeah. There's not much to do at home so I usually occupy my time by messing with my iPod or playing games," Jenny informs him.

"Wow. So your mom really keeps you under lock and key," Brad points out.

"Yeah…sorry, I know it's weird," Jenny mutters. _Stupid, why would you even mention that? But I don't know what to talk about on a da-…outing!_

"Nah, it's pretty cool that you're not only into feminine activity. You always in trouble with your mom or something, that makes want to keep you away from the world?" Brad says teasingly.

_You have no idea._ "You could say that. And hey, what did you by 'feminine activity'? Are you suggesting that playing video games is only a 'male activity'?" Jenny smirked.

"What? No! I meant that-" Brad tried to back track, but I interrupted with a chuckle.

Brad looked at me surprised then smirked. "Oh yeah, I'm real glad you like to participate in the eternal male ritual. Oh, and it's called 'gaming'. Leave it to a girl to say 'playing video games', as if it's to be taken lightly."

Jenny outright laughs and playfully jabs Brad in the ribs with her elbow. Brad groans and pretends I hurt him. I giggle at his antics. _Oh my gosh, is this called flirting? Am I flirting?_ Jenny was real proud at what she was doing. She couldn't believe that just this morning, she was lounging around her house lazily for the umpteenth time since she's arrived here, and now, she's at the mall with a new friend, having a good time.

Just then, Tuck came stomping out of the store. Jenny had forgotten he was here for a moment.

"What's wrong, Tuck?" Brad asked. Even if he was exasperated with Tuck most of the time, it was apparent that the brothers cared for each other.

"I was going to play the demo for the new fighting game that they had displayed, but some kid won't let anyone else play!" Tuck complained.

"That's not fair," Jenny said.

"Come on, Tuck. I'll see what I can do," Brad said looking at his brother. Tuck smiled at him. They were so cute together.

We all walked into the game store together. Tuck led us to somewhere towards the back where, indeed, they had demos set up for people to play. From behind a game stand, Tuck pointed to a little boy with brown hair, chewing bubble gum, stood in front of a machine, ignoring all complaints from those around him.

"Okay, time to show that little punk a lesson," Brad said. He pulled his sleeves up as if he were preparing for a fight. But before Brad could go over there, a big guy, maybe six and a half feet, walked behind the brown haired bubble-blowing kid, and growled at all the other errant kids around him. They all ran away at that. The kid turned around and gave him a high-five.

"Who is that?" Brad screeched. Some his bravado seemed to deplete.

"His older brother," Tuck informed us. "But I've got my own older brother, so he won't stand a chance!" Tuck cheered. Brad didn't seem to be in the same boat.

"Well, you know. I'm sure he'll get off in a few minutes or so. Isn't there some other game you wanna try?" Brad asked, trying to change his mind.

"No! And I heard that kids been hogging that machine for hours!" Tuck cried. Brad gulped, looking back over at the brother.

That's enough. Jenny won't stand for bullies. She comes from hiding and stalks toward the problem. She can hear both Brad and Tuck whisper at her harshly, but she ignores it. She steps around the big dude that eyes her warily, and taps the little one on the shoulder.

"What?" he says without turning around.

"Hi. I was wondering if my friend could try playing this game for a while?" Jenny asks simply and sweetly.

The boy turns around then and stares at the girl. "Why should I? I can play as long as I want."

Jenny sees the name of the boy sewed onto his shirt pocket. "Well, 'Jim', how about we play a little game then? Me versus you. If I win, I won't bother you anymore and you can play for as long as you want. But if I win, you have to let my friend play for a while. Deal?"

The kid seems to think this over. "How about if you win, your friend, and anyone else can play and I won't hog the machines ever again." Jenny smiled before the kid continued. "But if _I _win, you hafta buy me this game. Today." _Was he kidding? The game just came out, it must cost a fortune!_ But Jenny didn't want to give up. "Deal?"

Jenny bit her lip, but then smiled. "Deal." She shook the kid's hand. He quickly let go and turned toward the game, blushing. _Has he never touched a girl or something? Believable, seeing how much of a little jerk he is._

Tuck and Brad were standing next to her by this point. "Are you sure about this?" Tuck whispered.

"Yeah Jen, you don't have to do this," Brad said, putting his hand on her shoulder. This only seemed to boost her esteem.

"Yeah, I know. But I want to do it," Jenny said, grinning determinedly. She turned to the game, where the boy was waiting.

"Ready to get your butt kicked?" the kid smirked.

"Funny, I was about to ask the same thing," Jenny retorted.

…

About an hour later, the three of us walked out of the store, with an ecstatic Tuck in tow.

"Did you see the look on his face when he lost?!" Tuck said.

"Priceless. Jen, you really creamed the kid," Brad said, a proud smile on his face.

"Oh no, it was nothing," Jenny replied timidly.

"Nothing?!" Tuck said, incredulous. "You freakin' pummeled him! Special power up, right off the bat, combo after combo, followed by that super ending upper cut? Genius!" Tuck cheered.

"Really, I'm not that good." Jenny was blushing at this point.

"Yes you are. Even _I_ couldn't beat you," Brad pointed out.

"We finally got to play because of you. The rest of the store too," Tuck said. Then more quietly, "Thank you, Jenny."

Jenny turned to him surprised. A smile lit up her face. "Your very welcome, Tuck." A smile crept on his face then as three got into a heated discussion about games.

_Abraham took Isaac's hand_

_ And led him to that_

_ Lonesome hill_

Jenny took quickly took her cell from her pocket.

"Arcade Fire? Nice," Brad said.

She touched 'talk' and answered it, already knowing who it was. I mean, no one else had her number. "Yes?"

"XJ9!" said her mother from the other end.

"It's Jen-"

"No time for that! The low-level threat has now gone level C! I thought you said you would take care of it?!" her mother screeched.

Jenny looked at Brad and Tuck. They were bickering about where they should go eat. "Um, I had a minor setback," she admitted.

"Well, set back in and get to it before this situation gets anymore out of control!" With that, Mrs. Wakeman hung up. Jenny sighed and slipped her phone back into her pocket. The park was just a few blocks down. Maybe she could…

"What do you think Jen? Burgers or Sandwiches?" Brad asked her.

"Burgers! Burgers, Jenny!" brad exclaimed.

She figured a burger was a sandwich but didn't point this out. "Actually, could you two head to the food court without me for a moment? Gotta run to the bathroom."

"But there's a bathroom down there," Tuck said.

"Yeah, but it's always mega crowded. Don't worry; I'll catch up with you in a few. Here, let me give you my number," she said taking her phone out.

This seemed to distract Brad, but Tuck continued to look at her weirdly. When they finished exchanging numbers, Jenny turned and jogged in the opposite direction. When she saw that the coast was clear, she made a quick turn and sprinted to the exit, evading people easily.

**Tuck's POV**

Hey bro, I gotta use the bathroom too," Tuck said following after Jenny.

"I'll go with you then-" Brad started.

"No! You gotta go hold a place in line! And in case you forget, I want a double-cheeseburger, no onions, and extra mustard!"

"But we never agreed on the burger joint!" Brad exclaimed. But Tuck had already ran off at this point. He was trying to catch up with Jenny. Though he didn't think she was a monster anymore, he still had his suspicions about her. He was about to make a left to the girl's room when he saw a streak of blue to his right. Racing down the hall through people's legs, he saw her leave the mall. _Why is she leaving? Is she ditching us?_ Mad, Tuck runs out of the mall as well.


End file.
